Fabrication and mechanical properties of sintered leucite body

Fine leucite powder with an average diameter of 0.2 mu m was fabricated by the low-temperature synthesis method for leucite using natural mineral potash feldspar as the major raw material, followed by ball milling. A sintered leucite body with a 99.0% relative density was obtained by heating the leucite powder cylindrical pellet at 1250 degrees C for 1 h. The mechanical properties of this dense leucite body were determined. The bending strength, fracture toughness, elastic modulus and Vickers hardness of the body were 173 MPa, 2.3 MPa center dot m(1/2), 63 GPa and 5.3 GPa, respectively.